African Village

African Village

Article excerpt

Compelled by a news agenda with the attention span of a flea, it is rare enough for journalists to return to stories they have previously covered. But to return to the same African village community every 10 years, as I have since 1985, is more unusual still - especially when there is no 'news value' to the story and when the individuals featured are 'unknown'. I regard this longterm project in Burkina Faso as probably my most significant journalistic achievement in what is now quite a long career - and the New Internationalist's readiness to publish it perhaps indicates what sets it apart as a magazine.

In 17 pages there is only so much you can show, of course. And for that reason we have made much more use than usual of the extra resources and infinite space that our website affords us. We have created an internet hub that offers many more 'Then and Now' photographs than we have been able to include here on the printed page, more detail on particular stories as they developed, as well as a few short video clips. …